It's like a cautionary fairy tale. There once was a fun-loving, egalitarian airline that wanted to revolutionize the industry. All seats were given personal TVs, there was only one type of aircraft and one class of service to keep maintenance costs and fares low, and, best of all, there were no checked bag fees.
"No, no, no," promised the little airline. "We will not charge to check bags like a...

American Airlines passengers who buy basic economy tickets will each be allowed to bring a carry-on bag aboard flights, starting September 5. The news was announced by American executives this week during the carrier's second-quarter earnings call with reporters. Up to now, the luggage allowance for basic economy—American's cheapest, no-frills fare, which was introduced last year—has been just o...

The supposed next big thing in luggage just hit a snag. Several U.S. airlines have announced bans on technologically sophisticated "smart" suitcases with lithium-ion batteries that can't be removed. The high-powered batteries help make possible such wonders as suitcases with the capacity to charge cell phones, make their locations known via GPS, and even follow their owners around airports. B...

If you've ever been separated from your checked luggage—or worse, your checked wheelchair—you might wish the government would do something about the problem.
Last year, the government did, finalizing a new rule that would shed some light on how well airlines handle checked bags and wheelchairs. And this year, the Department of Transportation, at the request of the major U.S. airlines, undi...

Having cornered the market on fancy baby buggies, Bugaboo has turned its attention to wheeled luggage.
The Dutch company's new creation, the Boxer, is a four-wheeled trolley onto which a combination of suitcases can be clicked for convenient toting around airports and hotel lobbies.
But that's not the innovative part. Because the trolley tilts in a way that distributes the luggage's we...

Delta Air Lines has updated its mobile app so that passengers can now track their checked luggage from the moment it's dropped off to when it ends up in baggage claim (with any luck, at the correct destination).
Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, the app's new feature lets your follow your luggage's journey via a suitcase icon that appears on a map of the U.S. Tap the icon ...

Your luggage is making the major airlines a fortune.
According to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, passengers have paid an estimated $26.2 billion in mandatory baggage fees since 2007, around the time when many carriers began charging extra to check your first bag.
As the Daily Mail points out, that's enough money to buy United Airlines, currently valued ...

Airline baggage fees have turned luggage space into a valuable commodity. And now there are apps to help you sell it.
A startup called Airmule and a new rival, Grabr, connect customers in need of a delivery service with users who have space to fill in their suitcases. With Grabr, you can search to see if anybody in the city you're flying to wants anything from the city you're flying from,...

Watch as this industrious former Bond Girl (Die Another Day) named Rachel Grant shows us how to neatly pack more than 100 things—including a full rail of 23 hanging outfits—into a single piece of hand luggage.
She's a maestro at rolling, rubber-banding, plastic-bagging, and re-bottling toiletries—and the final result, we're told, weighed no more than 17.6 pounds (8kg). It helped that nearl...

We are truly living in an age of innovation when it comes to wacky luggage.
This week alone we've told you about the luggage clip that lets you pull your suitcase without using your hands and the motorized carry-on bag you can ride around the airport.
Now somebody has invented the Cowarobot R1, a robotic suitcase that follows you around instead of requiring you to drag it (or piggyback...